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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24425824">Puzzle Pieces</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/wickersnap/pseuds/wickersnap'>wickersnap</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Established Relationship, Fluff, Just the fluffiest thing you can imagine, M/M, Pillow Fights, Post-War, The Burrow (Harry Potter), adorable au where Harry and Lily both have brown eyes, all happy things here, all weasleys live, snuggles, summer evenings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 07:21:13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,740</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24425824</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/wickersnap/pseuds/wickersnap</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>“A pillow fort is an essential part of living,” he explains, “and we’re going to build one right now.”<br/>“Now?” Harry asks. “In here?”<br/>He grins. “Where else?”</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Harry Potter/Ron Weasley</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>223</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Puzzle Pieces</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This work is dedicated to the wonderful <a href="https://anaoldrin.eu/">anaoldrin</a> on tumblr as part of our trade! Their incredible, incredible art for Compass Points can be found <a href="https://anaoldrin.eu/post/619336487685718016">here!!</a><br/>Thank you so, so much for the prompt, it was a pleasure to write and I sincerely hope you enjoy!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Outside the window, past the large frog sitting in his tank on the sill, the sky is flushing a stunning gold in the summer’s evening sun. It sends swathes of warmth splashing across the attic room, lighting up Harry’s hair and glasses with an ethereal glow. Ron watches him, happily, as he tries to balance chocolate frog cards on their points.</p><p>They sit side by side on the floor, leaning against the frame of Ron’s bed. Ron’s hand can’t seem to help but drift back to Harry’s knee, over and over again, stroking his thumb over the creases of his jeans or running his fingers down the inside of his thigh, but Harry doesn’t seem to have any complaints. He smiles quietly as he works, and Ron thinks again of how incredibly lucky he is to be here. </p><p>Even now, after all these years together, just one look is enough to make Ron’s heart stutter in his chest. The space between his lungs expands with every breath and fills to the brim with adoration, with a feeling so warm and overwhelming he could cry by that alone. It makes him want to pull Harry into his arms and never let go, to feel his heartbeat and the softness of his skin beneath his palms, to press little kisses into his hair and down his cheeks.</p><p><em> “RO—N!” </em> whines Ginny, loudly, from the bottom of the stairs. “D’you know where all the chocolate frogs have gone?”</p><p>Ron looks down at the terrible tower Harry’s struggling with and grins.</p><p>“No idea!” he shouts back. “Couldn’t tell you!”</p><p>“I swear, if you’ve eaten them all, I’m stealing your broom!” Footsteps come pattering quickly up the stairs, and with a panicked wave of his hand, he sends all of the empty boxes skedaddling across the floor under his bed. The door slams open and he turns to look at Ginny, feigning innocence.</p><p>“I told you, I don’t know!”</p><p>She gives him a look—one of her horrifyingly good Unimpressed Mum impressions—and plants a fist on her hip.</p><p>“Ron, dinner was barely an hour ago! Don’t tell me you’ve eaten them all already!”</p><p>Ron gapes at her, offended. “I told you I didn’t—why don’t you believe me?” </p><p>He looks to Harry, who’s doing an awful job of not laughing at him, and scowls. “You’re supposed to be on my side!”</p><p>“I am on your side,” Harry says, smiling mischievously tilting to lean against his shoulder so he can blink up from beneath his lashes. “But I’m also very fond of my bollocks staying attached to my body.”</p><p>Ginny clicks her tongue and scoffs. “You’re useless, both of you! Useless!” She turns and stomps back off through the house, pulling the door to and muttering to herself, “...doesn’t stop bloody eating... can’t believe he thinks he’s clever... <em> Boys!” </em></p><p>Ron sighs and tips his head back against the edge of his mattress, kicking his feet out across the floor. “Girls,” he mumbles, “they’re always so sensitive.”</p><p>“Not always,” Harry says, grinning and kissing him sweetly on the corner of his mouth before returning to his attempts at stacking the oddly-shaped cards in ways they’ll never stay. His next try manages a personal record of five before they fold and fall flat on the floorboards.</p><p>“Not much of an architect, are you?” Ron says, sneaking his hand around Harry’s waist. </p><p>“And you’re not much of a sweet talker, are you?” he replies, but he laughs and lets Ron tug him into his side. Ron pushes his nose into the spot above Harry’s ear and smiles.</p><p>“I bet you build terrible pillow forts.”</p><p>Harry pulls back slightly to frown indignantly at him. “I’ll have you know I build great—um… What’s a pillow fort?”</p><p>Ron feels his jaw drop open as he looks at Harry and his sheepish confusion. He almost asks, ‘You’re kidding, right?’ or, ‘What do you mean, ‘what’s a pillow fort’?’ but then he remembers that no, Harry has not lived the life he has. He hasn’t lived in a house full of noisy, nosy siblings, hasn’t spent most of his time surrounded by energy and laughter and imaginations running wild. It’s quite the opposite, in fact; from what Ron remember’s of the Dursley’s Surrey muggle house, it rather gave the impression of never having seen a fun day in its short, sad history.</p><p>So instead of making a fool of himself and embarrassing Harry, he shuts his mouth and pulls them both to their feet. Harry comes easily, twining their fingers together and watching Ron expectantly. </p><p>“A pillow fort is an essential part of living,” he explains, “and we’re going to build one right now.”</p><p>“Now?” Harry asks. “In here?”</p><p>Ron laughs. “Where else? Now come on, we can steal my brothers’ stuff—they’re not using it.”</p><p>He leads the way out into the corridor, sneaking down past his parents’ room (where they can hear his dad already snoring loudly) and into Bill and Charlie’s. Charlie looks up from where he’s writing a long letter at the desk and grins at them.</p><p>“Anything I can help you with, lads?” he asks, flicking his quill between his fingers with amusement.</p><p>“We’re building a pillow fort,” Ron says. “Can we nick Bill’s duvet?”</p><p>Charlie snorts and returns to his parchment. “Have at it. There’s some spare stuff in the top of the wardrobe, too.”</p><p>“Thanks,” Ron tells him, already pulling the duvet off the only neatly-made bed and stuffing it into Harry’s arms. He piles the pillows on top and laughs when he realises Harry can barely see over them, his nose brushing the tops of the cotton pillowcases. He blinks large brown eyes owlishly at Ron, who turns away to hide his grin.</p><p>“Can you believe he’s eighteen and has never made one in his life?” he says conversationally to his brother as he fumbles for the sheets on the top shelf of the wardrobe. Charlie gasps, sparing no theatrics, and throws a hand over his heart.</p><p>“Ronnie, you’re slacking! How can you excuse this neglect of duty?”</p><p>A towel flops down from underneath the spare blankets and smacks Ron in the face. “I’m making up for it now, aren’t I? You can help by keeping Ginny from throttling me for a few hours, yeah?”</p><p>“No promises,” Charlie replies, and Harry snorts. Ron gives into the urge to lean over the piles of bedclothes in their arms and kiss his smiling lips, ignoring the unflattering noise his brother makes behind him. </p><p>“Do you even remember whose room you’re in? Bugger off if you’re done, I have important dragon correspondence to see to!”</p><p>“Yeah, yeah,” Ron huffs, nudging Harry towards the door. “Tell that friend of yours to visit again sometime, will you?”</p><p>“Will do.” Charlie salutes jauntily and kicks the door closed behind them.</p><p>“Come on,” Ron says, hurrying back up the stairs and dumping his prize on the floor before going back down to the twins’ room and snatching the covers off their unused beds. He almost trips over one of their many boxes of products in his haste to get back upstairs, mostly in fear of triggering whatever traps Fred might have set up. He doesn’t bother with Percy’s stuff—he’d rather not face the lecture he’d be sure to get when he comes home for the weekend. </p><p>Harry’s standing in the middle of his room when he returns, gazing down at the mess on the floor as if he’s somewhat surprised to see it. The sunset glances off him like it might trinkets in a jeweler’s window, glinting and golden and utterly captivating; a beautiful sight Ron feels he’ll never get used to seeing.</p><p>“Hey, Earth to Harry,” he calls, taking George’s pillow and swinging it at him. Harry squawks when it smacks him in the side, ducking down to grab his own pillow and swipe at Ron’s knees. Ron doesn’t stop the laughter bubbling up in his chest as he drops the rest of what he’s carrying and grips the pillow more tightly, holding it out as a shield against Harry’s battering.</p><p>“Come on, you coward!” Harry taunts, grinning and leaping out of the way of the next strike. He shrieks when Ron catches him in the arse though, and bashes his pillow against Ron’s chest. Ron holds out his pillow and cackles as he tries to get away, but Harry jumps up onto his back and tries to smother him instead. He winds his arms around Ron’s shoulders and his legs come up to clamp around his waist, pinning Ron’s elbows to his sides and bringing them both crashing to the ground with a yell.</p><p>“You minx!” Ron shouts, rolling away and hiding behind his pillow. “You dirty rotten cheat!”</p><p>“You never said there were any rules!”</p><p>Ron throws his pillow aside and tackles Harry back to the floor, grabbing him around the legs and tickling his sides, angling them so they both tumble into the pile of duvets. Harry shouts and scrabbles at Ron’s shoulder, laughing hard enough that he’s gasping for air by the time Ron sees fit to release him, when they’re lying together in the sheets and tangled endlessly together. Ron’s hands slide up to smooth over his cheeks, bringing their faces together and pressing gentle kisses to the side of Harry’s nose and over his cheek that only make him laugh more.</p><p>“So,” he says, once Ron’s laid off enough for him to get his breath back, “are you going to show me your superior fort building skills?”</p><p>Ron smiles, uncaring for how sappy it’s sure to make him look. “You’ll have to get up for that, first.”</p><p>Harry’s eyes flash with challenge in the split second before he’s on his feet and pulling Ron up by the arms. “Come on, then, lazy-arse! You have things to show me!”</p><p>“Oh, I can show you something all right,” Ron mutters, and Harry almost drops him when he bursts out laughing again.</p><p>They spend the next half-hour organising their fort. Ron shows Harry the best ways to drape the sheets and stick them to the walls with magic, which he takes to with an excitement Ron isn’t sure he’s seen since they ran the DA in fifth year. He can’t help but dance Harry clumsily around the room to the muffled tones of the wireless downstairs that float up through the open window. They sidestep the stack of old school books and slip on the corner of a forgotten blanket, almost collapsing the carefully-laid topsheet stretching between Ron’s wardrobe and the unused camp bed they fall onto. He feels a little guilty about that one—Hermione could be using it in Ginny’s room, after all—but it’s definitely not a conversation he particularly wants to have with his mum, let alone his dad. </p><p>Harry kisses him quickly and slips out of his arms to gather the remaining pillows and crawl into their fort. Ron follows, stretching out on his back over the layers of cushioning and sliding his wand out of his pocket.</p><p>“Mum used to make these for us before Bill was old enough to do it instead,” he says, conjuring a handful of tiny, glowing points of golden light that bob and float on the breeze that does little to assuage the humid air. Harry lies down beside him, slipping their fingers back together. The sheets ripple gently above them as Ron looks over, his gaze drawn immediately to the soft curve of Harry’s smiling lips. His eyes glitter and gleam like molten copper, or caramel, as they flick over to meet Ron’s own.</p><p>“Your eyes are very blue,” he whispers. </p><p>“And yours are very brown,” Ron replies, smiling as his chest wells up with that overwhelming love again. Far away, the trees in the orchard rustle agreeably. Harry still makes a face as if he’s said something silly. </p><p>“Yeah,” he says, “but they’re boring.”</p><p>“They’re <em> beautiful,” </em> Ron corrects. He slips his free hand up to hold Harry’s face and swipes a gentle thumb over his cheekbone, admiring the faint, delicate flush that blooms there. “You’re beautiful.”</p><p>“Not really… You know I’m just Harry.” </p><p>“And Just Harry is gorgeous.”</p><p>“You know what? I take back what I said about you not being a sweet talker. You’re unbearable.”</p><p>“And you’re not so bad at building pillow forts, yourself.”</p><p>Harry grins. “I had an expert helping me.”</p><p>Ron inches closer. “You sure did.”</p><p>“He’s so incredibly modest about it, too.”</p><p>“Sounds like a great bloke.”</p><p>Harry leans in the rest of the way, lips hovering over Ron’s. “The best I’ve ever known.”</p><p>Ron presses into the warmth of Harry’s body, lying half on top of him as he kisses him soundly. Harry’s hand tangles in his hair and grasps at the nape of his neck, pulling him closer and more firmly against him as he wiggles a knee between both of Ron’s. Ron hums into his mouth, nibbling genty along his bottom lip and licking over it in soothing. Harry opens his mouth and coaxes him in impatiently, and it’s not long before they’re beginning to sweat in the oppressive heat of both the night air and their shared body heat. Harry’s fingers trace up the side of Ron’s leaving tingling trails along his knuckles and palm.</p><p>“I love you,” Ron murmurs. “Even if you insist on being Just Harry.”</p><p>Harry smiles and brushes his nose over Ron’s, breath fanning gently over his mouth.</p><p>“And I love you too, you bloody sap, even if you try to tickle me to death.”</p><p>“It hasn’t killed you!”</p><p>“Hmm, but there’s always time…”</p><p><em> “Harry,” </em> Ron whines, rolling onto his front and burying his nose in the pillows. He looks up at Harry’s amused expression and can’t help but laugh himself, especially when Harry’s fingers creep to his sides and begin poking him in all his most sensitive places.</p><p>“Harry!” he gasps, once he’s wrestled Harry’s hands away from him. Harry huffs a quiet laugh and tugs him back over, curling into his chest and sighing when Ron wraps him up in his arms. Ron grins when Harry fidgets until he can remove his glasses and throws them carelessly over his shoulder, diving back into the embrace without restraint.</p><p>“Thank you for this,” he says, and it’s so quiet Ron almost misses it.</p><p>“For what?” Ron hums. He feels complete, holding Harry so close, and is quite frankly sure he’d do anything to stay like this forever.</p><p>“You know… all of it.”</p><p>Ron splays his fingers over Harry’s hips and takes a deep breath, revelling in the clean, wonderful scent of Harry’s hair and the sweetness of the warmth encompassing them. He can feel Harry breathing against his chest, can feel how alive he is in the thrum of his heartbeat just below his skin. Can feel how relaxed and open he is in the lack of tension that’s plagued him for the last ten years of his life, at least.</p><p>“I want to do it. For you.”</p><p>“I know.”</p><p>“You deserve it.”</p><p>“I don’t.”</p><p>“You do, and you’re not going to convince me otherwise.”</p><p>Ron knows Harry’s rolling his eyes, even if he can’t see him. </p><p>“Fine,” he mutters, “but I’d do the same for you.”</p><p>Ron smiles. “I know.”</p><p>And when they fall asleep, curled in the mess of blankets beneath their hovering, glowing golden fairy lights, it’s one of peace and comfort, untouched in its entirety by nightmares and thoughts of the outside world. It’s the two of them—Harry and Ron—holding each other close in a way that no one else could. It’s trust and it’s kindness and it’s hope, and against all odds, it’s their hard-earned moment to cherish and keep to themselves. Their hard-earned ending to what was only just a beginning.</p><p>Harry burrows his fingers into Ron’s t-shirt, face tucked neatly into Ron’s neck and hidden from the world. Ron clings just as tightly back, feet hooked around Harry’s ankles and mouth moving soundlessly in Harry’s hair. Two halves of the same whole, snoozing quietly in a nest of blankets and pillows. Not even when Pigwidgeon returns twittering loudly from his hunt do they stir; he settles, eventually, in a cloud of feathers atop the wardrobe to take his own, well-deserved nap.</p><p>Tomorrow is another day, after all. Maybe Ginny will even forgive them in the morning.</p><p>As if that’s gonna happen.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Find me on <a href="https://silverxsakura.tumblr.com/">tumblr!</a></p></blockquote></div></div>
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